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The Price of Peace: Aftermath
Command Center - - Outskirts of San Francisco Once you enter this gigantic room, the first thing you notice is the big scanner sitting against the far wall. Looking like Teletran One's bigger cousin, the main computer that is Metroplex sits there checking the perimeter defenses of Autobot City. The gigantic viewer currently shows the exterior shot outside of Autobot City, a pastoral view of a wide plain surrounded by a large conifer forest. Several smaller monitors show different pictures, some of Earth by orbital satellite, others of various computer graphics, giving the viewer the current situation on Earth at a moment's notice. Next to the main computer is a FTL communications terminal used for talking to Cybertron, Junkion, and other worlds. It is linked to Blaster's main communications tower located upstairs. Along the other walls are assorted computer terminals that are used by individual Autobots for data processing and accessing information from the main computer core. On the wall to the right of the main computer is a large, recently finished portrait of Optimus Prime with Prowl and Ironhide in the background. A small caption below reads, "Until All Are One". The Command Center at Autobot City is abuzz with its usual activity. Surveillance probes being monitored, clerks and techs rushing this way and that delivering memos and filling out documentation. Reports being filed...and speaking of reports, Blurr is struggling with one right now. Particularly the one regarding Nocturous III. ...I mean, how does one even -begin- to describe what happened out there? He's not even sure exactly how that mech Synapse had managed to use some sort of low-energy sonic frequency to disrupt memory circuits. After all, he's no scientist or comms expert. It was too bad Blaster hadn't been there--though he fully intends to give Blaster all the information the team managed to procure from this 'New Crystal City' place. Sighing, he facepalms, shaking his head. This was one of the things that was kind of scrappy about being CO. One of the -many- things, actually... Arcee isn't a secretary. She's working on...something else entirely, at one of the other stations. The regular work still has to get done, in the meantime, and she's just trying to get it completed. Snapshot, in the meantime, is conducting the boring, /boring/ task of being a cassette tape. She's plugged into something resembling a tape deck, the spindles in each of her tape mode's holes reading the wealth of information she's gathered since the last time she did this. Which would be...a very long time, considering she /hates/ being in this mode. As such, most of it is very useless, outdated stuff, and what new information there is is just regular, run-of-the-mill surveillance records. Lots of boring nothing. Blurr glances momentarily over at Arcee, then glancing back at the workstation he's using. Finally, he throws his arms in the air and pushes away from the display, giving up for the time being. Huh. He picks up a datapad and starts looking over the Intel roster. Let's see here: Tailgate, Wraith, Hubcap, Blaster, Mirage of course, Hound...Snapshot? A brow ridge goes upon reading the name as he wonders who exactly that is. He opens her dossier. Hm. Tape-bot, recon, it seems. He turns to Arcee sitting near by. "Hey Arcee, you know who 'Snapshot' is?" he asks aloud, probably loud enough for Snapshot to hear, and holds up her dossier on the datapad to show the femme. "Apparently she's in my division, but I don't think I've ever even met her. Have you?" "I've definitely heard her name before recently, but we've never met," Arcee admits, turning to look at Blurr. "Do you actually have Bots in your division you haven't yet met?" Aha! Finally, a chance to get away from this tedium! Snapshot disconnects from the tape deck and transforms, landing between Blurr and Arcee with a flourishing bow. "I am ze one zey call Snapshot. I hope ze two of you will pardon me for not being overly social, but I spend much of my time exploring ze outside world...among other zings," she says, then straightens up and offers a hand for both of them to shake. "I believe ze common introductory ritual for ze natives of zis planet is ze handshake, oui?" Arcee startles a bit, then smiles as Snapshot suddenly transforms and introduces herself. "I think so! Hello..." She shakes Snapshot's hand with a finger, looking very charmed indeed. Blurr practically hits the ceiling when Snapshot jumps out of the deck. Honestly--he looks rather comical. Slag it! These fragging tapes! He drops the datapad he'd been holding, and it clatters to the floor. "IohI'msorryIdidn'tumImeanugh!" he picks the datpad back up. "AHEM. Well." he finally calms down. "I guess that answers my question." The courier takes Snapshot's hand and shakes it at an extremely rapid rate, as is customary for him. "Nice to meet you. I suppose I should have at least -met- everyone in my own division..." he comments, pouting slightly at Arcee. Arcee's finger is met with a gentle shake, while Blurr's own customary action ends up nearly vibrating Snapshot off of her feet. She quickly pulls her hands back, clasping them behind her back, perhaps a little protectively. "Yes, well, it cannot be helped, can it? However, now zat we have been formally introduced to one another, you can feel free to count me among ze ranks, mon amie." she says to Blurr. Normally, Arcee has a bit more snark to deliver, just for fun and giggles. However, she treats Blurr with kid gloves a lot, because she knows he really DOESN'T think he's good at his job. She just shrugs slightly. "Hey, it happens sometimes," she says dismissively. She tends to be the calm presence because she knows how easily Blurr startles. She eyes Snapshot for a moment. "Hey, you were at the final bout of King of Seekers, weren't you! I think I saw you there." Can't be helped? Haha...that was kind of the wrong thing to say to Blurr. He smirks. "Maybe that's true for most people, but not -me-. I -should- expect myself to be able to get around a lot, you know?" Given how fast he can move, of course. Some might argue his ego is bigger than Sky Lynx's. "Hm...so I've looked at your dossier. You're recon, but what would you say you're most confident doing?" Also, if Blurr knew Arcee handled him with 'kid gloves'...psh. Ultra Magnus emerges from the Meeting Room, nodding to the Autobots he finds here. "Hello everyone. How are you all today?" "Hi, Magnus! I think we're doing just fine..." Arcee pauses, leaving that one open-ended because she very much wants to add, ('If someone could keep a handle on their department without passing out in their office all the time!') Snapshot turns her enormous eyes toward Arcee, a smile forming on her face. She can't help it, she loves being recognized. "Oui, I was at ze King of Seekers finale. It was quite good, zough it was a shame zat Blast Off won. Ze visuals were quite nice, however," she says, then looks back to Blurr. "I am quite small, as you can see, and I get ze best shots from up close. I would enjoy being a spy with a more active role, I zink." And then Magnus appears! "Bonjour, Monsieur Magnus! A pleasure to see you here, zough it is quite ze surprise. Are you so interested in ze tedium of reconnaisance?" Blurr nods, listening to Snapshot's opinions. "Yeah, well in that case I think I'll put you on Crystal City. Soundwave's got a series of sonic reflectors he's using to destroy everyone's privacy there. Can't stand for that. But, we need good sabotage methods, and that's what we have little spies like you for. The quicker and the cleaner, the better." He frowns at the mention of Blast Off winning the tournament, but then he smirks. "Pff, what a glitchead. Always looking for all these very public things he can do to try to prove himself, as if he's somehow trying to measure up to the kind of reputation -I- had or something!" he laughs, and shakes his head. "Pathetic, really. Anyway, enough about that spawn of a glitch." He turns to Ultra Magnus. "Magnus!" He salutes. "Good to see you...and actually, there's something I should tell you about." Ultra Magnus gives Snapshot a wry look. "You must not know me very well, Snapshot. What other Autobots sometimes consider tedium, I consider...well, my job." He smiles slightly and then glances at Arcee. "And for that matter the recon reports lately have been full of interesting news." His gaze finally ends on Blurr, expectantly. Arcee looks toward the mini-femme and winks mysteriously, as if there's some strange, super-secret femme conspiracy going on that the mechs in the room aren't privy to at all. Snapshot nods to Blurr, liking the sound of that. From what she's heard of the situation, it should be interesting at the very least. "Oui, I will do my best to find ze weakpoints in his operation. Zen we shall see whose tapes are better, no?" After returning Arcee's wink, she waves a hand dismissively at Magnus. "Bah, in zat case I will let you handle uploading ze information, zen. It will give me more time to attend to my art." Blurr notices the wink and glares at Arcee. What was THAT about? Ugh, he suddenly feels more conscientious than usual. Paranoid, yes, but not as much as Red Alert. Still, every spy is almost guaranteed to be a bit more paranoid than your average 'Bot. Anyway, he'll have to have to a talk with Arcee later. He nods at Snapshot. "Good." He smirks. "But...we won't have to see that you're better than Soundwave's tapes--because we already know." He then turns to Ultra Magnus. "Last solar cycle I took team out to Nocturous III to search for a recon team that went MIA three megacycles ago. We..." he shakes his, ah where to start? "We stumbled upon a small city. Some disgruntled scientist was running some sort of memory experiment there. Broadcasting some kind of frequency that made everyone forget the past four million deca-cycles of our lives. It was...weird to say the least. I guess he thought he could end the war with his technology, I don't know--but he got away." He sighs. "I was just trying to figure out how exactly to report what happened, but it was just so -strange-..." "It was really complicated," Arcee admits, serious once more as if nothing had ever happened. Ultra Magnus nods thoughtfully as he listens. "...that is disturbing news. Most of our defenses and tactics are focused on physical combat. This is an area that most of us aren't familiar with." His gaze trails over to a tactical screen that shows an ever-rotating image of Cybertron, with various patches shaded purple, red (far fewer) and yellow (just a spot really). Snapshot's smile widens slightly at Blurr's words. "Oui, but zey do not zink so, do zey? I must teach zem." "Heh, good point Snapshot." Blurr smirks. "Those Decepticons, always needing lessons." he laughs momentarily, but sobers again at Magnus' words. "Yeah, it definitely is, and this guy, Synapse was his name according to the team we rescued from him--has a lot of technology. He -teleported- away before we could apprehend him. No idea where, could've been a few kils away, could have been to the other side of the galaxy--who knows." he shrugs. "I can't help but think that he's just going to do the same thing somewhere else, maybe in another sector where we'll take longer to find him out this time," Arcee points out. "But at least this will put him out of commission for some time." Ultra Magnus begins to pace back and forth. "Synapse. The name doesn't ring a bell. But teleporting, that's the hallmark of an enemy who's prepared for anything. I wonder if we there's any way for us to be prepared for him. Some way to shield memory cores from the effect, or to have backup memories stored so they can be recovered in case someone's memory is affected?" "Well, while you figure zat out, I will being making ze preparations for ze zreat we know better. Good luck with your investigations." Snapshot speaks up, then starts heading toward the exit. Arcee is seated at one of the terminals. Looks like she had been doing work at some point, but she's given it up to socialize, because why not. Ultra Magnus paces back and forth, which could easily indicate nerves or deep thinking. Or both. Solstice meanders into the command center, data pad in hand, bouncing a bit on her feet as she hums along with whatever music she's internally piping to herself. She stops just inside, looking up at the ceiling and yes, counting lights. Or cobwebs, something up there for sure has her attention. "Hi, Solstice, haven't seen you in a while," Arcee greets with a grin. Rewind walks in the room, going over some film clips in his memory banks as he does so. "Oh... geez, too shaky... ugh, too blurry.... no, no, not framed correctly...." He shakes his head mournfully... "I thought I *had* that shot, too." Then he notices the others there and stops. "Oh! Uh, hey, guys!" He starts to walk over to Arcee in particular. "What's going on?" "Yeah, maybe..." Blurr answers to Ultra Magnus' suggestions. He glances briefly up at Snapshot as she leaves. "Good luck!" Back to the matter at hand. "Well for one thing -he'll- definitely be more preapared for -us- next time." he nods at Arcee. "Exactly what I was thinking, he's probably going to set up shop somewhere else, maybe make better use of cloaking. Make better defenses...I don't know if he'd go with guns, though. He seemed pretty against violence of any kind." Ultra Magnus turns around and waves as well. "Hello Solstice, Rewind." He glances around the Command Center. "We were discussing defenses or training against mental attacks. After the experience with Synapse on Nocturous II..." "Hey, Rewind, I heard a rumor you got to meet some kind of...bad guy? Did I hear that right? Like, some kind of prisoner or something??" Arcee asks curiously. Solstice looks over and around, then waves, "Hey Arcee!" She grins merrily. "Just been studying." And avoiding speeding tickets. "Greetings sirs." Polite tilt of head towards Magnus and Blurr, optics and features gaining a certain mischievous tilt to them as she peers at Blurr a moment then aims a merrily lopsided grin at Arcee. "Uhm.. How'd one train against a mental attack unless we've got someone that can do that to us so we know what it feels like and can learn?" Rewind waves back to Ultra Magnus, then turns to Arcee and rubs the back of his helmet a little sheepishly. "Heh. Um, that. That was kind of an odd experience... see, I helped save his life and he wanted to talk to me. Gave me some tips regarding Rumble trying to obtain weapons. There may be a weapons ring going on under our noses- with help from the Cons. In fact, I need to find out if we've determined anything else about that... I think Prowl was going to look into some things." His voice trails off a bit, then he looks back to UM. "Wait... what happened? Who's Synapse?" "Honestly, even after we were ...psychologically assaulted, I'm not really sure how could fight against it in the future." Blurr says, frowning at Solstice's question. "Synapse himself had invented some kind of audio filter to block the regression frequency. I'd...have to talk to Blaster about it, he'd probably know the most about this sort of thing. Fortunately we managed to snag a few of them for him to take a look at." He turns to Rewind. "We're not even entirely sure, Rewind. We think Synapse was a scientist...but maybe you could try searching for any information about him in your historical files?" "I was...really quite impressed with the level of sophistication that had gone into the filter," Arcee adds to the conversation in regards to Synapse. "The blockout of any memories of the war were so complete, I didn't recognize anyone as being friend or enemy." Solstice's smile fades at the frown to her question and moves to lean against an empty expanse of wall. "Hard t' train up against somethin' y' can't repeat..." softly spoken as she pulls up a file on her pad, attention slipping to her reading. "Some things you just can't get training on. No training can prepare you for every possible outcome," Arcee offers to Solstice with a shrug. Rewind looks up and nods to Blurr. "Alright, workin' on it." He finds a chair, climbing up and seating himself- though his legs dangle over the chair seat that's made for someone a bit bigger than he is. The tapebot is quiet for a moment, going through his files and records. Finally, he speaks again. "Ok.... found something. This guy definitely has an interesting history. He WAS an Autobot briefly, but his idealogy clashed once too often with his superiors. He's a scientist... quite an accomplished one, too. Very intelligent." "But it seems he's inclined to think he knows what's best for everyone... and some of his experiments involved mind-control, states of altered reality, and other means to manipulate behavior patterns. That didn't sit too well with his superiors, obviously, and it appears he had begun work on ways to alter the percieved reality of large numbers of people when he had a final confrontation with his Commander at the time. Looks like Synapse stormed off about then. It was just a little after the war started. He hasn't been seen since, not that I can find, anyway." Arcee glances down at the floor while Rewind retrieves and reads the documentation on Synapse, and this news puts a serious damper on her previously good mood. Now, she just feels uncomfortable...and sad. "Once upon a time...he was one of us." Skyline says, "Anyone on this frequency, this is Vigilance-2 at Nova Cronum. Requesting immediate backup. I repeat, requesting immediate backup--we are under attack!" Blurr shakes his head sadly, as well. "Unfortunately enough. But you know, there's always -those- types." He sighs. "Sounds like he took his 'good intentions' too far. He'll probably need to be brigged or something. Thanks, Rewind. Keep digging though--see if you can't find anything else useful about him. Like maybe where he's been, so we could get an idea of where he might run off to lick his proverbial wounds." Rewind nods to Blurr, "Ok! I'll let you know of I find anything else." The archivist begins running even more comprehensive scans through his databanks, setting up a long-term background scan that might take awhile, given the immense amount of information he keeps. "So... what happened? Are you guys alright?" "Yeah, it's...really, it's pretty complicated to explain. It was like not remembering anyone or much of anything. It was kind of like things were a long time ago," Arcee says. Still looking kind of forlorn about it, she gets up. "Things are going to be fine, don't worry," she tells Rewind in a manner that she hopes is reassuring. "...I really should go." "Uh..." Blurr's reaction is similar to Arcee's. "Yeah, it's really hard to explain exactly what it felt like. It was as if I suddenly was never an Autobot or something. Like the last four million meta-cycles had just been erased from my life." Rewind listens to Arcee. "Well, if you ran into Synapse, and if he's still like he was back then... or maybe even worse? Yeah, that would be deeply unsettling." He nods to her in what he also hopes is a reassuring manner, and to Blurr, too, "Yes, I know you'll fine. Takes more than some mad scientist to get you two down, right?" Blurr's response dampens his attempted cheer-up, and he nods. "That... would be an odd feeling. To lose the past 4 million meta-cycles of... you. But... you're still you, despite Synapse's efforts, so... that good." Right? You receive a radio message from Arcee: Talk to you later, I guess. Sorry if I got you annoyed earlier, I was just being a brat, honestly. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. You send a radio message to Arcee: Nonsense! You aren't a brat! You send a radio message to Arcee: ...what was it about, anyway? You receive a radio message from Arcee: *chuckles* That's just it, it wasn't about anything. It was about getting a rise out of you. It worked! You send a radio message to Arcee: ... You send a radio message to Arcee: Seriously? You receive a radio message from Arcee: Told you I was a brat. You send a radio message to Arcee: :grumbles. "Okay, fine. I guess you are a brat." You receive a radio message from Arcee: Yup. Guilty as charged. Oh, hey, we need to go try something! It'll be fun, I promise. Someday when we can get out of here for a little while. "Yeah, I guess we were lucky it didn't cause any permanent damage." Blurr nods. Though...honestly it was partly kind of nice, not remembering all of that. Some of it was...burdensome. You send a radio message to Arcee: 'Something', huh? You send a radio message to Arcee: What 'something'? You receive a radio message from Arcee: *innocently* I just thought we could take a little trip. Not a big deal or anything. You send a radio message to Arcee: Trip to where? You send a radio message to Arcee: ...why are you being so secretive about it? You receive a radio message from Arcee: Cause. I wanted to talk to you about it earlier, but there was business to tend to first. You send a radio message to Arcee: Well, you can talk to me about it now. You receive a radio message from Arcee: Okay. I was wondering if we could go to New York City? You send a radio message to Arcee: Uh, sure? But I still don't get why you were all secretive about it just now. You receive a radio message from Arcee: Well, I wasn't sure if you'd WANT to, for one. You send a radio message to Arcee: And why's that? You send a radio message to Arcee: And that still doesn't make any sense. You send a radio message to Arcee: I don't usually agree to things without knowing what they are. You receive a radio message from Arcee: Yeah, I figured that much. I just thought it might be fun to go on that trip in particular. But...not on the highway. You receive a radio message from Arcee: And not driving. You send a radio message to Arcee: I...okay? I guess. You receive a radio message from Arcee: I thought it might be kind of interesting if you just, uh, pick a time -- but don't tell ME what time you pick, okay? Then when the time comes up, you grab me, and take me to New York and back. Just...you know, haul it out there, fast as you can. Might be fun? You never know until you try it! ...Right? You send a radio message to Arcee: ... You send a radio message to Arcee: I....ummm...why?! You receive a radio message from Arcee: Cause it might be fun? You receive a radio message from Arcee: It's okay if you don't want to do it, I was...trying to come up with something more fun than...just sitting around talking, you know? You send a radio message to Arcee: Uh, okay...I guess.... You send a radio message to Arcee: What made you think of that? Rewind nods. "Yes... I can imagine that would be. I LOVE being an archivist, but sometimes, well..." He points to his head, "All this memory- mine and *everyone else's* too.... just gets to be a burden of its own, in a way. Some days there are... TOO many memories. Too many regrets, too many "what ifs", too many... well, you know. Though..." he pauses. "At least I can shut out everyone else's memories if I want. My OWN, not so much. Not easily, at least. And I wouldn't want anyone *taking* those memories from me. Sometimes... they're all that remains." You receive a radio message from Arcee: What made me think of that was thinking how *typical* it would be to just hang out in the same kind of places, do the same sorts of things, and...and I just didn't want to go that route, to be honest. You receive a radio message from Arcee: *blurts out* And sometimes, things still happen where I'm trying to figure out where you're coming from, and I can't figure it out, and...and I want to know. I want to see it from how you're seeing it. It vexed me on that mission we were just on, and it's still making me want to know. You send a radio message to Arcee: Know what? What do you mean where I'm coming from? You send a radio message to Arcee: You know where I come from, don't you? You receive a radio message from Arcee: Mm, not THAT way, I meant that you think a lot faster, and sometimes the conclusions you come to completely baffle me. In that way I'm just trying to understand the process a bit better. Does that make more sense? You send a radio message to Arcee: ...no. You receive a radio message from Arcee: OK, what isn't making sense? You send a radio message to Arcee: How does me grabbing you out of the void and taking you to New York help you understand that? Rewind nods to Blurr. "That's good. Synapse sounded like he had ways to really get under a mech's surface. Well, I'll keep going through my files, and let you know if anything else pops up. And I hope you've had a chance to look at those files Prowl and I inputed about Rumble and his little "gun operation" in San Francisco. The Cons could be up to something there." You receive a radio message from Arcee: Puts me into the moment with you. Forces me to focus on that. Also, the thought of it is kind of fun. Think of it in this way: how did punching Sunstreaker in the faceplate repeatedly help Sunstreaker to realize he was being a bigger jerk than usual? One shouldn't equate with the other, but it did. It was an object lesson. Blurr nods. "Yeah, I'll be sure to get some analysts on that." he says in regards to the potential operation in San Franscisco. "Maybe put Snapshot on that after we finish off Soundwave's little tyrant thing in Crystal City. Anyway, if you come up with anything else of relevance on Synapse, just leave it on my desk or send me the memo." Rewind nods. "Gotcha. I've been meaning to talk to Snapshot sometime, anyway." He begins running a few background files on her, as well as the files on Synapse, still sitting in his chair, legs swinging. Ultra Magnus nods in satisfaction as once again Autobots contribute to the matter at hand based on their own personal strengths. It's not just a faction of 'warriors' and 'ground warriors' and 'commanders', it's faction where soldiers can be messengers or archivists as well. "At the very least we should spread the word about Synapse's appearance, previously recorded abilities and tactics," he remarks. You send a radio message to Arcee: ... You receive a radio message from Arcee: Well, give it some more thought. We can talk more about it later. You send a radio message to Arcee: Well, I mean...he didn't... You send a radio message to Arcee: *is totally speechless, and that wouldn't be the first time, either. AMAZING!* You receive a radio message from Arcee: Remember. Object lesson. Blurr...has a somewhat distant look on his face, as if he's having some kind of internal conversation. Or conversation with someone else at the same time. He doesn't say anything in response, staring at the far wall. He should probably be working on that report... Rewind looks over at Ultra Magnus. "Ok. I found some records on Synapse- I'll archive it so others can find it more easily." He glances over at Blurr. "Uhhh.... you OK?" Blurr DID just get his head messed with- is he experiencing some after effects? Ultra Magnus watches Blurr with concern, but Rewind has already asked the first question that comes to mind so Magnus waits... Blurr shakes his head, suddenly snapping out of it. "Oh...right. Yeah. Thanks, Rewind. And...yeah, I'm working on that, Magnus. It's just hard to get my head wrapped around all of it so I can get it organized into an actual report..." Rewind looks at Blurr, not entirely convinced... that mind control stuff can really mess with one's cerebro circuits, after all. But unless Blurr really starts acting strange there's not much else to say. Meanwhile... wow, Snapshot's had some rough times, hasn't she? Rewind sits in his chair, going through file after file... and he's got many lifetimes worth of them. Enough to keep him busy for awhile.... Ultra Magnus turns back to one of the other terminals in the command center - talk of reports has reminded him of some paperwork he needs to complete. Rodimus sure isn't going to do it.